The Member of Parliament for Kwadaso Constituency, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko has reacted to the recent statement by the Country Director for the World Bank, Pierre Laporte who said Ghana’s economic woes started even before the onset of the covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a recent public lecture organized by the One Ghana Movement, the World Bank Country Director, Pierre Laporte, said Ghana’s economic woes were expected.
Mr. Laporte said his outfit had spoken to the Finance Minister, who “acknowledges the severity of the situation.”
“Yes, COVID-19 has not helped, but even before COVID-19, there were signs that the situation was getting a little bit more challenging. The key thing is to be transparent with the people.
“Is it a really serious situation ? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. The situation is very serious. At the World Bank, we’ve not hidden the fact when we’ve held discussions with government officials and even the head of state that, Ghana faces a very tough road ahead to restore macro sustainability,” Mr. Laporte stated.
In a discussion on ‘Good Morning Ghana’ on Metro TV on Tuesday, March 15, Dr. Nyarko questioned the authenticity of Mr. Laporte’s statement on the performance of the country’s economy saying they were not backed by any data.
“I heard that the World Bank Country Manager, Laporte said, that the economy was not doing well before COVID-19 so we cannot put the blame on COVID-19 largely, but I disagree with him.
“When he spoke to the audience did he produce any figure to support this analysis? You can convince me more when you speak to facts and data, but when he spoke he couldn’t even give an indicator to support his point so why do you take him serious?” he stated.
According to him, the same World bank in 2019 stated that Ghana’s economy was on a strong growth path.
So Dr. Kingsley Nyarko issue is that the World Bank boss turning around to make such statement was contradictory and surprising.
